Thompson/Center Arms, having an address at 2100 Roosevelt Ave., Springfield, Mass. 01104, manufactures a variety of single-shot, break-action firearms which allow for barrel assemblies chambered for different types of ammunition to be mounted onto a common receiver assembly. By interchanging the barrel assemblies, different types of ammunition can be fired using the same receiver assembly. Thompson/Center Arms offers single-shot, break-action firearms of this type under various trademarks, including the original Contender® trademark and the Encore® trademark. These types of firearms are referred to herein as “Contender-style firearms” for ease of reference, and correspondingly the receiver assemblies are referred to as “Contender-style receiver assemblies” and the barrel assemblies are referred to as “Contender-style barrel assemblies”. This is merely for convenience of reference, and is not intended to limit any aspect of the present disclosure to products manufactured by Thompson/Center Arms.
The conventional extractor for Contender-style firearms generally takes the form of a longitudinally extending bar of rectangular cross-section having a notch in its inferior surface and which tapers (between the inferior and superior surfaces) from the discharge end to the breech end (the end having the extractor head). The extractor is received in a generally rectangular tunnel-like passage formed in the barrel body between the bore and the locking bolt receptacle in the lug. The tapered shape of the extractor allows the extractor to rock within the passage, enabling the extractor head to pivot toward and away from the chamber for loading and unloading cartridges. A leaf spring is interposed between the passage and the inferior surface of the extractor, adjacent the breech end thereof, to bias the extractor head toward the chamber, and a notch engages a spring pin to retain the extractor in the body.
Eagle View Arms, a division of Eagle View Research Center, LLC having an address at 130 SE Kodiak Ridge Road, Shelton, Wash. 98584 offers an internally threaded “barrel stub” into which a barrel can be threaded tightly in place to form a Contender-style barrel assembly. This offering includes an extractor, which is of generally circular cross-section at its discharge end and which narrows considerably in thickness (between the inferior and superior surfaces) from the discharge end to the breech. The narrow portion of the extractor functions as an integral leaf spring that enables the extractor head to pivot toward and away from the chamber while biasing the extractor head toward the chamber.